P 74 
.L67 H8 

Copy 1 









>>,:>)^S^:3^^ 









'^LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.^ 



3.s^3)|: 









^IwY^^B) WMWMi 



'^mf'jm :ym>^: 






>^ »'> 



* <^^/.. .El-^ 

p 

f UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 






>3>:>5^2> ^:>s> . 



^e> JD)T>D1>. JPl 



)T)>>:»IL>»1i)1»S33>j:> 



0:>D -'2DI0030) )>3 2»JI> i»» ^^^3 


















3>D 



iMMH] 



y> D 







>d:> m 




1^ 






3i>'.>X>~'' 



r>>J»> 






ABSTRACT 



HISTORY OF LEXINGTON, MASS. 



FROM ITS 



FIRST SHTTLHMEXT 



CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE DECLARATION OF 
OUR NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE, 



JULY 4, 1876. 



Oj«<0 



y 



BY CHARLHS HUDSON 





BOSTON: 

PRF. ^S OF T. R. MARVIN .<^ SON. 49 FEOFRAL STRFFT. 

I S 7 ') . 



Y -] 



In conformity with the recommendation of Congress, the undersigned, in 
behalf of the citizens of Lexington, have caused the following Abstract of the 
History of Lexington to be prepared and published. 

WEBSTER SMITH, 
OTIS WENTWORTH, 
ALBERT W. BRYANT. 

Select?nen of Lexington. 
Lexington, June, 1876. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH 



Lexington is a post town in the County of Middlesex, State of 
Massachusetts, situated in latitude 42^^ 26' 50" North, and longi- 
tude 70" 13' 55" West. It is about eleven miles West-northwest 
from Boston, and about fifteen miles Southeast-by-south from 
Lowell. It has Winchester, Woburn, and Burlington, on the North- 
east ; Burlington and Bedford, on the North ; Lincoln, on the West ; 
Waltham on the Southwest, and Belmont and Arlington on the 
Southeast. The township, like most of those in the neighborhood, 
is somewhat irregular in shape, and contains about twenty square 
miles, or about 13,000 acres. It is generally more elevated than 
any of the adjoining towns, unless it be Lincoln ; and hence the 
water from Lexington runs in every direction, and finds its way to 
the ocean through the Shawshine, Mystic, and Charles rivers. 

The hills in some parts of the town rise to a considerable height. 
These afford a delightful prospect, both near and remote. The soil 
is generally productive, and the rich peat meadows which are found 
in most parts of the town, add materially to the value of many farms. 
Lexington has been somewhat celebrated for its hay and fruit 
crops ; but at present more particularly for its milk dairies. Some 
of our farmers keep from twenty to fifty, and some as high as sixty 
or seventy cows, making an aggregate of from 350,000 to 400,000 
gallons of milk sent annually to market. Lexington has always 
been distinguished as a healthy town, and many invalids, on the 
advice of their physicians, resort to the place. It lias a railroad 
passing directly thrt)ugh the centre of the town, furnishing frequent 
and easy communication with lioston. There is no town in the 
region, so near and accessible to Boston, which affords more pleas- 



ing and rural scenery than Lexington ; and the Revolutionary 
associations are more and more attracting visitors to the place. 

Lexington was formerly a part of Cambridge, and was known by 
the designation of " Cambridge Farms," supplying the main village 
with hay and wood. There was no permanent settlement at the 
"farms" till about 1640. The early settlers came mostly from Cam- 
bridge and Watertown, but they were at first few in number. It 
was not till after the close of Philip's war, that there was any con- 
siderable increase of the population. In 1670 there could not have 
been over eighty-five or ninety inhabitants at the " farms," but in 

1690 there was probably three times- that number. Among the first 
wants of every early New England settlement, were those of church 
privileges. In 1682 the settlers petitioned to be set off as a distinct 
precinct. The old parish of Cambridge opposing, it was not till 

1691 that the Court granted the "farms" a separate corporate 
existence. Their first object after being made a precinct, was to 
provide for religious worship. They erected a meeting-house, and 
employed a minister before 1693. But he unfortunately died in 1697, 
and after some delay, in 1698, they settled John Hancock, a gradu- 
ate from Harvard, a young man of good promise. He remained 
with his people till his death in 1752. He was a man of superior 
talents, and of great usefulness, and probably exerted more influence 
than any clergyman in the county. If a dif^culty arose in any of 
the churches, and a Council was called, Mr. Hancock must be on 
the Council, where he generally became Moderator, and frequently 
the Council itself. In those days, when the churches were much 
fewer in number than at present, and ministers were usually settled 
for life, he gave the solemn charge to tzveiity-oue ministers at their 
induction into office. He was as influential at home as abroad, and 
always managed to keep his own people united and happy. He had 
three sons : — First, John, who was settled a minister at Braintree, 
and was father of John Hancock of the Revolution ; second, Thomas, 
a successful merchant of Boston, who adopted and educated his 
nephew John, who was left an orphan at the age of seven, and to 
whom he bequeathed his large fortune ; third, Ebenezer, wlio was 
settled as a colleague with his father, and died in 1740, after a brief 
ministry of six years. John Hancock the elder, built a house on 
what is now called Hancock Street, in Lexington, soon after his 
ordination in 1698, and about 1735 his son Thomas, built an addition 



5 

to the house. Both the original and addition are still standing, each 
showing the architectural taste of the age in which it was erected, 
and are subjects of interest at the present day. 

Mr. Hancock was succeeded in the ministry by Jonas Clarke, who 
was inducted into the pastoral office in 1755. He married Lucy 
Bovv^es, who was a grand-daughter of his predecessor. Rev. John 
Hancock. Mr. Clarke purchased and resided in the house erected 
In' his predecessor ; so that the old building, now an object of atten- 
tion, had been the ministerial mansion for more than a century. 
Mr. Clarke was a man of distinguished ability, and has left his mark 
upon his country's history. During the later years of the French 
and Indian wars, Mr. Clarke encouraged a warm devotion to his 
country, but when the English ministry first attempted to impose 
taxes upon the colonies, he was among the first to raise his voice 
against it. It was customary in those days for towns to instruct 
their Representatives to the General Court. When Lexington had 
elected their Representative, if there was any particular question 
before the people, he was not simply advised how to act, but he was 
presented with an able elaborate State paper, entering into the 
merits of the question, and teaching the duty of rulers and the 
rights and privileges of the ruled. 

The Lexington Records contain a number of these valuable papers, 
all prepared by Mr. Clarke, which would do honor to any states- 
man in the country. He had a thorough knowledge of the science 
of civil government, and in his masterly documents he met the par- 
ticular issues of the day, and showed in the clearest manner that, as 
English subjects, we were deprived of the rights and privileges of 
British freemen, which were granted to us bv our charter, and con- 
firmed by the Constitution of Great Britain ; and that, during the 
whole controversy, we were in the right, and Parliament in the 
wrong ; that they, in truth, and not we, were the rebels, ignoring, 
disregarding, and trampling upon the fundamental principles of their 
own organic law. These papers not only instructed his own towns- 
men, but by their publication they enlightened tlie public mind and 
prepared the people, not simply to resist the encroachments of Great 
Britain, but to establish free institutions, and to perform all the 
duties of Republican citizens. Mr. Clarke {possessed a clear, vigor- 
ous, aiul well-balanced mind, and was always exercised by high 
moral principles, whether acting the divine or the statesman. He 



was, in fact, religiously political and politically religious, and was 
progressive and conservative at the same time. He was the friend, 
adviser and compeer of Adams, Hancock, and Warren, who fre- 
quently found a home under his roof and wise instruction from his 
counsel. 

Lexington was peculiarly fortunate in being favored by two such 
clergymen as Hancock and Clarke, whose united ministry exceeded 
a century, and whose wisdom guided the people in the arts of peace 
and in the perils of war. Their lives, their teaching, and their char- 
acters, were so blended with the affairs of the town, that they are as 
necessarily a part of the history of Lexington, as Washington is of 
the American Revolution. 

But Lexington has a civil and a military, as well as an ecclesiastic 
history. Lexington was made a precinct in 1691, but incorporated 
as a town in 1713. As a municipal corporation they laid out high- 
ways, provided for the support of the poor, and established that 
indispensable institution of New England, free schools. The town 
being exclusively agricultural, and lying near the neighborhood of 
manufactures and commerce^ their young men, too frequently, have 
been induced to leave Lexington, and hence the increase of popula- 
tion has been very gradual. And this natural growth received a 
further check in 1754, when a thousand acres of their territory, with 
the inhabitants thereon, were taken from them to help form the 
town of Lincoln. 

But Lexington has a military history which reflects no dishonor 
upon the place. In the French and Indian war Lexington acted no 
insignificant part. From 1755 to 1763, taking the number of men 
in each year will give a total of one hundred and fifty men, who 
were found on every battle-field — at Louisburg, Quebec, Crown 
Point, Ticonderoga, Fort William-Henry, and wherever a foe was to 
be encountered or a daring deed to be performed. Some of the 
Lexington men were attached to the famous corps known as 
" Rogers' Rangers," a corps in which Stark served his military 
apprenticeship ; a corps whose name was expressive of the life they 
led, ranging through the wilderness, seeking their wary savage foe 
by day and by night, in silent glens or secret ambush ; a corps whose 
winter quarters were in tedious marchings amid drifted snows and 
ice-clad hills, relying sometimes upon snow-shoes and sometimes 
upon skates for locomotion, and carrying their only arsenal and 



commissariat in ihcir packs. In such a corps were some of the 
hardy sons of Lcxin^i;ton trained, they knowing that their lives were 
in their own hands, and that their escape from the tomahawk and 
scalping knife, the tortures of the fagot or ignominious slavery, 
depended entire}}' upon tlieir own severe trials, perpetual watchings, 
and determined courage. The further military history of Lexington 
will appear hereafter. 

We have already alluded to the controversy of the Colony with 
the mother country. This was continuous from the passage of the 
Stamp Act in 1765 to the opening of the Revolution. This contro- 
versy, which excited the attention of every town and village, was in 
no place better understood than in Lexington. The clear and 
elaborate instruction of parson Clarke, the frequent visits of Han- 
cock and Adams, kept these questions constantly before the people ; 
and the whole subject was discussed, not merely in a declamatory 
and passionate way, but on its real merits. So that when our fathers 
resorted to arms, they rallied not as an ignorant, infuriated mob, 
but as a band of patriots, knowing their rights, and resolved to 
resist unjust oppression. 

After pouring out their blood and treasure in the cause of Great 
Britain, in subduing the enemy in Canada, the people of the Colony 
flattered themselves that they should be permitted to rest in peace, 
and recover from their exhaustion in the royal cause. In this 
expectation the people of Lexington participated. They had served 
faithfully in his Majesty's cause, and, feeling oppressed by imposi- 
tions already made, and others in prospect, they had united with 
their fellow citizens in other towns, in urgent petition for relief, and 
earnest but humble remonstrance against these acts of oppression. 
Hut finding all such measures fruitless, they felt called upon by 
every patriotic consideration, and even by the sacred obligations of 
religion, to assert their manhood, vindicate the rights implanted by 
their Creator, and to hand these rights and privileges down to their 
posterity. They had, therefore, prepared themselves to meet the 
crisis whenever it should come, or whatever form it should assume. 
Whatever others might do, the citizens of Lexington stood firm. In 
1773, two years before the breaking out of hostilities, when pre- 
tended patriots, even in Boston, faltered, Lexington gave them this 
assurance: — "We trust in God that, should the state of affairs 
require it, we shall be ready to sacrifice our estates ami ever)- thing 



8 

dear in life, yea, and life itself, in support of the common cause." 
Nor was this an empty boast ! When their affairs did require it. 
they made the first offering in freedom's sacred cause. 

But the good people of Lexington did not rely upon declarations 
alone. They made all the preparation their limited means would 
allow, to supply themselves with the munitions of war. They voted 
"To provide a suitable quantity of flints," "to bring two pieces of 
cannon from Watertown and mount them," " to provide a pair of 
drums for the use of the military company in town," " to provide 
bayonets at the town's cost, for one-third of the training soldiers," 
" to have the militia and alarm list meet for a view of their arms," &c. 
And that these votes should not prove a mere dead letter, commit- 
tees were chosen to carry them into effect ; all of which showed that 
the people were in earnest, and expected that war would ensue. 

It is due to the patriots of Lexington and our fathers generally, to 
correct an error which has prevailed extensively, that they took up 
arms rather than pay a tJiree-penny tax upon tea. This is a narrow 
view of the subject. They did object to taxation, while having no 
representation in Parliament. But the claim of Great Britain was 
not limited to taxation. They claimed the right of legislating for us 
in "■all cases whatsoever,'' — a right to deprive us of all our civil privi- 
leges, such as the right of trial by jury, of suffrage, of taking or hold- 
ing property, — a doctrine by which they could compel us to serve in 
their army or navy, and fight their battles in any part of the world, 
— in a word, the right to make us slaves. And in fact, before we 
took up arms, their Parliament reduced some of these principles to 
practice. Their act changing the Charter of Massachusetts, practi- 
cally deprived us of trial by jury, and of other domestic rights and 
immunities which we all held dear, and was their first bold step of 
exercising absolute control over the Colonies. They had passed 
such laws, and had sent a Governor, backed by military power, to 
enforce them. The resolution, on their part, was made, — the 
purpose was fixed. Their law should be executed, even at the point 
of the bayonet. 

Nor were the Colonists undecided. Old Middlesex had been in 
council, and from a full view of the subject they say: — "Life and 
death, or what is more, freedom or slavery are, in a peculiar sense, 
now before us ; and the choice and success, under God, depend 
greatly upon ourselves." And after asserting that the law was 



unconstitutional and ought not to be obeyed, they add, "No danger 
shall affright, no difficulties shall intimidate us ; and if in support of 
our rights, we are called upon to encounter death, we are yet 
undaunted, sensible that he can never die too soon who lays down 
his life in support of the laws and liberties of his country." 

Such was the resolution and sentmient of the county. And 
Lexington was not a whit behind the foremost in this patriotic self- 
devotion. In fact its citizens, two years before, had annoiuiced to 
their fellow sufferers their trust in God that they should be ready to 
sacrifice fortune and life in the common cause, whenever the crisis 
should require it. The people were also sustained by the policy of 
the Provincial Congress, which had ordered the organization of 
minute-men, appointed general officers, and practically made the 
Chairman of the Committee of Safety. Commander-in-Chief of all 
the military force of the Province. They had also, in a moral sense, 
ordered disobedience to the late laws of Parliament; but directed 
the people to refrain from direct acts of war. and " not fire unless 
fired upon." The issue was practically made up, and nothing was 
wanting but an occasion to try the same. And the few military 
stores at Concord furnished an opportunity to test the spirit of the 
people. 

THK H.\TTLK OF LEXINGTON. 

The Spring of 1775 opened with strong indications that some 
military demonstration by General Gage was about to be made. 
The state of things at that period was this: Gage was in Boston with 
about three thousand men, who were wearied with inaction, and 
anxious for an opportunity to display their prowess in the field. 
Colonel Leslie had been sent to Salem to destroy some stores, but 
the expedition was abortive. Two British officers in disguise had 
been sent to Worcester and to Concord, where a few military stores 
were collected, to spy out the land, ascertain the location of the 
stores, and the most feasible approach to the respective towns. 
General Gage had been accused at home of inactivity, and he knew 
that Generals Howe, Clinton, and Hurgoyne were soon to join and 
probably supersede him. The ministry and Gage had concurred in 
the ])olicy of seizing Hancock and Adams, and sending them to 
England for trial. All these facts would naturall)- prompt the royal 
Governor to action. 
2 



lO 

On the other hand, the patriots were not inactive or bHnd to these 
indications. Hancock, as President of the Provincial Congress, had 
irHportant duties to perform, and great responsibility to incur ; and 
as Chairman of the Committee of Safety, he was practically the 
Chief Magistrate of the Province, and the Commander-in-Chief of 
her troops. And Samuel Adams, who exerted more influence in the 
Province than any other man, was devising measures to prepare the 
people for self-government, and instructing them in the best means 
of attaining that rich blessing ; while Warren and other vigilant 
patriots were watching the actions of Gage, and concerting signals 
by which his movements might be heralded to their friends in the 
country. It seemed obvious to the whole community that Gage had 
his eye upon Hancock and Adams, who were sojourning in Lexing- 
ton with their friend and compeer, Rev. Jonas Clarke, whose teach- 
ings had fully impressed his people with their rights and duties as 
citizens. The patriots were aware that the few stores collected at 
Concord had attracted the Governor's attention, and measures were 
adopted to ensure their safety. Such was the outward appearance 
of things on the morning of the 19th of April, 1775. 

On the previous day some twelve or fifteen British officers were 
detailed to pass over the different roads leading to Concord, to inter- 
cept all travellers, and to return late at night, as is believed, and 
seize Hancock and Adams, known to be at Lexington. To remove 
all suspicion, these officers were to dine at Cambridge, and so be 
thus far on their midnight expedition. Other precautions were 
taken by the Governor to avoid suspicion. The troops selected for 
the expedition were removed from the main body on the pretence of 
being taught some new evolution and drill. Boats from the ships in 
the stream were collected, for the ostensible purpose ol having them 
painted, but really to transport the troops across the river. 

Believing that these arrangements had secured perfect secrecy, 
about eleven o'clock at night, the command under Colonel Smith 
was safely landed on Cambridge shore, near where the present Court 
House stands. The evening was propitious, and Gage flattered 
himself that he had eluded the vigilance of his watchful enemies, 
when, to his surprise, he was informed that the departure and desti- 
nation of the troops were known. To avoid any spread of this intel- 
ligence, he ordered sentinels to be posted forthwith, in all suitable 
places, to see that no person be permitted to leave the town that 



II 

night. Rut the bird had flown. Warren, ever watchful in freedom's 
cause, had sent Paul Revere by way of Charlestown, and William 
Dawes by way of the Neck, to convey the intelligence of the move- 
ment to Hancock and Adams at Lexington. Thus, while Smith's 
conmiand were marching, or rather wading stealthily through the 
marshes in Cambridge, these messengers were spreading the alarm, 
and the lantern at the old North (Christ) Church was. with the 
velocity of light, conveying the tidings of the march, and, by infer- 
ence, the destination of the troops, in every direction. Smith had 
not moved far before the church bells and the alarm guns taught 
him that his movement was known, and that danger was impending. 
He consequently sent back for a re-enforcement, and at the same time 
ordered Pitcairn, with the light troops, to proceed with the utmost 
despatch to Concord, and take possession of the bridges. 

Meantime, the people of Lexington had taken the alarm. The 
passing of the British officers up the road at a late hour of the day, 
created a suspicion that they had a design upon Hancock and 
Adams ; and a sergeant's guard was stationed at Clarke's house, 
where the patriots had their temporary abode. But when Revere 
arrived about midnight with the intelligence that a large force, 
supposed at that time to be an entire brigade, had left Boston, des- 
tined, in all probability, for Lexington and Concord, Captain Parker, 
commanding the Lexington minute-men, summoned them to meet 
forthwith at their usual place of parade. Obeying readily, they were 
paraded on the Common between one and two o'clock, when they 
were ordered to load their pieces with balls, but "not fire unless they 
were fired upon." The night being chilly, and no further intelligence 
of the approach of the British troops being received, the company 
at about two o'clock were dismissed to reassemble at the rin"-in2" of 
the bell, beating of the drum, and the firing of the alarm guns. 
The first certain intelligence they had of the approach of the troops, 
was that they were near by, marching rapidly upon the town. The 
bell rang, the alarm guns proclaimed the approach, and the drums 
beat to arms. The men, who had been dismissed, were scattered 
about the village. Some had gone to their respective homes, others 
who lived at a distance, had repaired to Buckman's tavern, hard by, 
and upon the alarm they rushed to the parade ground in haste. 

But not more than fifty had reached the spot, when the rash and 
impetuous Pitcairn, at the head of his troops, rushed upon them 



12 

with a shout, denouncing them as rebels, and with an oath com- 
manding them to throw down their arms and disperse. The little 
band, realizing that they were standing upon their own ground, 
where they were wont to assemble, manfully retained their position ; 
a volley of blank cartridges was fired, but the Provincials stood firm. 
Enraged at this, Pitcairn discharged his pistol, and ordered the 
whole platoon to fire. A fatal volley ensued, which decimated the 
patriot line. Several of the Provincials returned the fire on the 
spot. Captain Parker, seeing the folly of confi'onting eight hundred 
regular troops with fifty undisciplined militia, ordered his men to 
disperse, which order they obeyed, several of them returning the fire 
as they left the Common. The British pursued the retreating 
patriots, and two were shot down as they were leaving or had left 
the green. One or more British soldiers were wounded by the 
return fire, and Pitcairn's horse was struck in two places.* 

Here let us pause for a moment ! Fifty undisciplined yeomanry 
stood up manfully in the face of eight hundred veteran troops, and 
would not disperse at their bidding, and returned the fire when fired 
upon ! A Spartan steadfastness rarely equalled. This was truly 
orgmiized resistance, both morally and legally. The Provincials had 
resolved in Congress, in conventions, in town meetings, and in all 
private gatherings, that they would resist if the British should 
attempt to enforce their oppressive laws by military force, but would 
not fire unless they were fired upon. This was morally an organized 
principle, well understood and controlling. The Lexington men 
were also organized legally. The company of minute-men were 
organized agreeably to the order of the Provincial Congress ; Parker 
was their lawful commander, who had summoned his company 
together in consequence of the approach of the king's troops, and 
ordered them to load their pieces with powder and ball ; he paraded 
them in the very face of the king's troops, which were rapidly 
approaching, bound on a hostile expedition. And all this took place 
under the eye and with the approbation of John Hancock, who, as 

•"Thougli some of our fi-iends, jealous of the honors of Lexington, have pretended to 
doubt whether Lexington men returned the fire in the morning, John Munroe, Ebenezer 
Munroe, Benjamin Sampson, William Tidd, Nathaniel Munroe, and Solomon Brown, who 
were present on the occasion, testify to the fact of their firing. Dr. Warren, John Hancock, 
and others, were appointed by the Provincial Congress on the I2th of June, 1775, to inquire 
into the matter, and they reported that the British Bred and killed eight men, and that the 
fire was returned by some of the survivors. Parson Clarke says the same. Gordon, Ban- 
croft, and Frothingham, admit the firing. The British account at the time, admits that one 
British soldier was wounded, and Pitcairn's horse hit twice. 



13 

Chairman of the Cfuiimittee of Safety, was virtually Commander-in- 
Chief of the military, and who would have come upon the Common 
and assumed the command, but for the remonstrance of Adams and 
Clarke. Surely, here was organized resistance, such as would con- 
stitute treason by the British law, — an organization as perfect, nay, 
more perfect, than existed at Concord or any place upon the line, 
till General Heath took the command. At Le.xington the Pro- 
vincials acted under the eye of the Commander-in-Chief, but no 
where else upon the line. 

The men on Lexington Common practically acted under orders 
which were well understood, when they returned the British fire. 
The soldier, when placed on picket or employed as a skirmisher, 
expects no superior by his side to tell him when to fire. He acts 
on general principles, and knows that the very position in which he 
is placed must, in most cases, preclude the idea of a superior to give 
him verbal orders. So the members of Capt. Parker's Company 
acted on the same principle ; and when they were ordered not to 
fire until they were fired upon, they knew when that contingency 
occurred, they had full authority to fire. Soon after the British had 
left for Concord, a number of their soldiers who had straggled from 
the main body were discovered, and six of them were made prisoners, 
and sent to Burlington for safe-keeping. This was certainly an act 
of military, physical resistance — and these were the first prisoners 
made in the Revolution. 

The British, after halting on Lexington Common, firing a salute, 
and giving three cheers in honor of their supposed victory, marched 
direct for Concord, where the intelligence of their firing upon and 
killing six or eight of Lexington men, had preceded them, as appears 
by the deposition of Captain Barrett and fifteen others of Concord. 
The militia from several towns, who had collected at the village of 
Concord, knowing that the British had fired upon tiic militia at 
Lexington and killed several of their members, when the\' saw them 
approaching in martial array, retreated to the highlands north of tiie 
village, west of the river. Smith, on his arrival at Concord, detailed 
Captain Parsons with a hundred men to destroy the stores intrusted 
to the care of Colonel liarrett. Captain Laurie, with about the same 
number of men, was posted at the North bridge, to secure the safe 
return of Captain Parsons ; while Smith, with the main body of the 
troops, remained in the village, to destroy what stores they could 
find there. 



14 

In his wanton destruction of the few articles he found in the 
centre of the town, fire was communicated to the Court House and 
several other buildings, which led the Provincials on the hill which 
overlooked the centre, to fear that the whole village would be laid in 
ashes, and they resolved to march to the scene of danger to stay the 
flames. But there was a lion in the way : Laurie, with his one 
hundred men, guarded the bridge over which they must pass. The 
Americans on the hill had now increased to about four hundred and 
fifty, and the passage from the hill to the bridge was by a narrow 
causeway over wet and swampy ground, so that the approach to the 
bridge would expose the front to the direct fire of those who guarded 
the bridge. Who, then, would occupy this dangerous position, this 
post of honor ? The Americans were paraded in a line upon the 
hill. The Concord companies, two in number, ranked the others, 
and so occupied the right, which rested on the road which led to the 
bridge. Captain Davis, with his Acton minute-men, occupied a 
position in a central part of the line. They were paraded in the 
same order they had adopted at a muster a short time before, when 
the question of position was decided. 

But it would seem that there was a little hesitancy in assuming 
the right, and so leading the column to the bridge. The officers 
held a consultation. What occurred in that conference, we learn 
only by what followed. When the consultation closed, Captain 
Davis of the Acton minute-men, advanced to his company in a 
central part of the line, and drawing his sword, said, with emotion : 
" There is not a man in my company that's afraid to go," and, wheel- 
ing them out of their position in the line, marched to the right of 
the line to lead the Provincials over the causeway, the real point of 
danger, to dislodge the British. That there was some delicacy about 
occupying this post of danger is apparent from the further acknowl- 
edged fact that Captain Smith of Lincoln, to whom the honor of the 
right did not belong, offered to place his company in that position. 

When the column was ready to move. Major Buttrick of Concord 
assumed the command, and led the column to the bridge. Colonel 
Robinson of Westford, an officer, but of another regiment, volun- 
teered to attend him. As they approached the bridge, they were 
fired upon by the British. The first guns, only two or three in 
number, did no execution, the balls, probably by design, striking the 
water. Then followed a few scattering shots, one of which wounded 



15 

Luther Blanchard, a fifer in the Acton company. These were suc- 
ceeded by a volley, b)- which Captain Davis and Al)ner Hosmcr, 
both of Acton, were killed. On seeing this, Major Huttrick, 
prompted by the sentiment which actuated the whole community, 
ordered his men to fire. The order was promptly obeyed, killing 
one and wounding six or eight of the enemy. The British immedi- 
ately retreated in haste and confusion towards the village, and were 
soon met by a re-enforcement, when they all fell back upon the. main 
body near the meeting house. The Americans pursued them over 
the bridge, where one of the wounded British soldiers was cruelly 
killed by a hatchet, as he was struggling to rise from the ground, — 
an act unauthorized, and condemned by all in command. A part of 
the Americans, after crossing the bridge, turned off to the left and 
ascended the hill east of the main road, while another portion 
returned to the highlands whence they came, bearing the remains of 
Davis and Hosmer. Military order was now broken up, and the 
militia were unwisely permitted to scatter to obtain their breakfast. 
In the meantime the detail sent to Colonel Barrett's to destroy 
the stores, returned, passed the bridge, and joined the main body 
unmolested ; though Bancroft and Frothingham both say it might 
easily have been cut off. 

The British met with but partial success in destroying military 
stores. The delay at Lexington and the alarm that preceded them, 
enabled Colonel Barrett to conceal most of the stores, so that the 
British found only a few gun carriages and articles of but little value. 
After the affair at the North bridge, which consisted in exchanging 
two or three volleys, and which lasted but a few minutes, everything 
remained quiet till the enemy left Concord. The fall of Captain 
Davis seems to have extinguished the military ardor of the Pro- 
vincials. Two hours were suffered to pass without any action being 
taken or measures adopted. The British were equally inactive, till 
about twelve o'clock, when they commenced their retreat. The 
main body moved on the direct road toward Lexington, while a 
strong flank guard marched over the hill which commanded the road. 
When the main body of the British passed Merriam's Corner, where 
the hill terminates, the flank guard came into the main road, and 
seeing the men from Reading, Billerica, and Bedford, coming down 
the road which would intersect their line of march they halted, faced 
about, and fired upon them. The Provincials at once returned the 



i6 

fire, killing two of the l^ritish. This was the signal for a general 
conflict. Here, in fact, the battle proper commenced — not at the 
north bridge, — but near the junction of the Bedford and Lexington 
roads, nearly two miles from the North bridge. The affair at the 
bridge was a mere skirmish, where the British had but one hundred 
men present, and where but two or three volleys were fired ; but 
here the whole British force was united, and the firing became 
general on both sides. 

The Provincials rallied ; men came in from Reading and other 
towns on the the north, the Sudbury men and others Irom the south, 
and with those who had been in the town in the early part of the 
day, all joined in the attack. Smith found himself assailed on 
every hand. He attempted to arrest their pursuit by presenting his 
whole force, but he soon saw that this was only exposing his men to 
shots from trees, and walls and thickets. He threw out his flank 
guard, but the Provincials out-flanked the flankers. A large com- 
pany from Woburn, led by Loammi Baldwin, met the British in \Jvxv- 
coln, and did good service ; and Captain Parker had rallied his muti- 
lated company, and appeared in the field to avenge the brutality of 
the morning. In passing the woody defiles in Lincoln the British 
suffered severely. They attempted to resist, but where was the foe.'' 
They had recourse to the bayonet, but they charged in empty air. 
They soon found that their safety was in flight. They did, how- 
ever, attempt to make one formal stand. Just after they entered 
Lexington, near the old Viles Tavern, Smith posted a detail of his 
men upon a rocky bluff by the side of the road, to hold the pursuers 
in check, while he should rally his fugitives on what is known as 
Fiske Hill. Taking advantage of the woods and a narrow defile, he 
brought his troops to a stand, and attempted to form a line where 
he could, temporarily at least, hold the Provincials in check. But 
before his line was fully formed, his rear, stationed on the bluff, 
was driven in upon his half-formed column, creating great confusion. 
In the mean time a considerable number of the Provincials, avoiding 
the troops on the bluff, had passed through the woods and secreted 
themselves behind a lot of split rails by the side of the road where 
Smith was attempting to form his men ; and when his rear was 
driven in, and the Americans were gathering around him and pick- 
ing off his men, the Provincials from their hiding place behind the 
rails poured a well-directed, enfilading fire into his ranks, creating 



17 

perfect confusion and dismay. Here Smith was severely wounded, 
and Pitcairn also was wounded and thrown from his horse, which in 
his sudden flight bounded from the road, and with all his trappings 
became an easy prey to the pursuers. The horse with the accoutre- 
ments was sent to Concord, where they were sold at auction. Cap- 
tain Nathan Barrett purchased the holsters and the pistols, marked 
with Pitcairn's name, and offered them to General Washington, who 
declined them. They were afterwards presented to General Put- 
nam, who carried them through the remainder of his active service 
in the war. They descended in the family, and became the property 
of his grand-son, John P. Putnam, of Cambridge, New York. They 
are now the property of his widow. 

Another incident occurred at Fiske Hill, worthy of note. We 
have already seen that the Acton men were the first to attack, and 
we may add, foremost in the pursuit: — James Heywood, one of 
Acton's proud sons, a young man of twenty-two years, being one of 
the foremost in pressing upon the enemy, at the easterly foot of 
Fiskfe Hill came in contact with a British soldier who had stopped 
to slake his thirst at a well. The Briton presented his musket, and 
said defiantly, " Vo?( are a dead niatir " And so are yoit," retorted 
young Heywood. They both fired and both fell ; the Briton dead, 
and Heywood mortally wounded. 

After the affair on Fiske Hill, where Smith was wounded, he 
made no further attempt to check the pursuers. By their own con- 
fession " they were driven like sheep," and were so exhausted that, 
when they met their re-enforcement, they " threw themselves upon 
the ground with their tongues running out of their mouths, like 
dogs after a chase." The same force which passed Lexington 
village so proudly in the morning, returned a perfect rabble rout in 
the afternoon, seeking safety in their flight. 

The re-enforcement for which Smith called the night before, did 
not leave Boston till about nine o'clock that morning, and coming 
out through Roxbury, did not meet the fugitives till neariy two. 
This force, commanded by Lord Percy, consisted of about eleven 
hundred men. with two pieces of artillery. He met Smith on the plain 
about half a mile below Lexington Common, ami planted one of his 
field pieces on a mound where the present High School house stands, 
and the other on the swell of land in the rear of the house recently 
erected by Mr. Levi Prosser. With these he kept tlio Provincials 
3 



at bay, while he gave temporary rest to the flying troops he came to 
protect. Wherever he saw a collection or group of men, he opened 
upon them with one of his field pieces, and by dispersing them gave 
rest to the British troops. Several shots were thrown into the 
village, one of which struck the church, and passing out of the pulpit 
window, lodged in the northerly part of the Common. This timely 
relief saved Smith's detachment from utter ruin. It has been a 
credited tradition that, before reaching the re-enforcement, and not 
knowing when or where relief would reach them, Smith would have 
surrendered, if his pursuers had had any commanding officer to 
whom he could have delivered his sword. But Percy gave him tem- 
porary relief, and enabled his men to take a little rest and refresh- 
ment, privileges which they greatly abused. And to the dishonor 
of Percy it may be said, that the lawlessness and vandalism of the 
troops, which took place under his eye, and which, as commanding 
officer, he could have prevented, he appears to have allowed without 
restraint. They entered the houses on the plain, and not only 
demanded food, which was readily given them, but they commenced 
a system of pillage, and even a wanton destruction of property, end- 
ing in burning the houses they had plundered. 

While the British were resting at Lexington, General Heath, who 
had been appointed by the Provincial Congress one of the Major 
Generals, to command any troops that were called out, came over 
from Watertown and assumed the command of the Americans, and 
controlled their movements in a measure, the rest of the day. He 
was attended by Dr. Warren, who rendered important service during 
the retreat ; he was seen in the hottest of the battle, encouraging 
the men, and had a hair-pin shot from his ear-lock by a British ball, 

Percy, as senior officer, took command of the king's troops, and 
commenced his retreat. It was nearly three o'clock when he left 
Lexington. He undoubtedly felt secure, as there appeared to be no 
new gathering of Provincials to annoy his flanks, and he relied upon 
his cannon to protect his rear. But while he was reposing at 
Lexington, the militia were collecting at Arlington from Watertown, 
Needham, Dedham and other towns on the south, and from Beverly, 
Salem and Lynn on the north ; and the gallant men of Danvers who 
marched sixteen miles in fotir hours, were on the ground to oppose 
his retreat. And when he had passed the defiles and entered upon 
the open land in Arlington, he found the Provincials ready to annoy 



19 

him, and even to dispute his passage. He found that every tree 
was a fortress and every wall a rampart. He threw out his flank 
guards, but many of them were picked off by unseen foes, and the 
progress of his march only brought him in contact with increased 
numbers of his enemies. And while he was thus annoyed in flank 
and opposed in front, the troops which had pursued him from 
Lexington hung upon his rear, inflicting severe damage. The 
British became desperate, assailing the old and defenceless, murder- 
ing non-combatants, abusing women and children, and setting fire 
to houses occupied by the sick, who were compelled to crawl from 
their dwellings to escape the ravages of the flames. But this 
wanton barbarity only increased the boldness and indignation of the 
pursuers. Heath and Warren breathed new life and energy into the 
Americans, and led them in direct attack. Percy became sensible 
of his danger, and had recourse to his artillery, but his cannon had 
lost their terror. He found himself pressed on every hand. The 
roads before him were guarded ; the rcjcks, trees and fences were 
manned on every side ; and while he was exposed to this unseen 
foe, and his men were falling by shots from hidden marksmen, 
others, more bold and desperate, approached him in the open field, 
and poured well-directed volleys into his ranks. Percy found him- 
self in the same plight that Smith was, whom he met in Lexington, 
and saw that nothing could save him but flight. He therefore made 
a desperate effort to seek the protection of the ships. The British 
were closely pressed. Heath directed the movements of the militia, 
and Warren nerved their hearts ; so that, under a galling fire. Percy 
spent his energies in speed, being more anxious to gain the |)rotec- 
tion of friends, than to encounter pursuing foes. When he was 
entering upon Charlestown Neck, as the sun was about withdrawing 
its light from the revolting scene of blood and carnage. General 
Heath, fearing for the safety of Charlestown, if he pursued Percy 
any further, called off his men, and suffered the weary fugitives to 
seek repose under the cover of their ships. 

The suffering of the British soldiers, especially those who went to 
Concord, must have been extremely severe. The length of the march, 
the rapidity of their movement, the want of refreshment, the burden of 
their wounded, the extreme heat of tlie day. and the vigorous press 
of the [)ursuers, must have taxed their endurance to an excessive 
degree, and taught them the danger of invadim/ the riirhts of freemen. 



20 

While the events of the day do not present any of those desperate 
charges or collisions of arms which often occur in a pitched battle, 
there are displays of cool, collected courage, of self-sacrificing devo- 
tion to principle, of individual heroism, which will compare with the 
brightest examples in Greek or Roman history. The case of Dr. 
Downer, of West Cambridge, in which he encountered a British 
regular, and after a desperate struggle, transfixed him on his bayo- 
net, was a deed of noble daring. We can hardly conceive of a more 
trying position than that in which the minute-men of Lexington 
were placed on the 19th of April, 1775. To stand unmoved in the 
presence of vastly superior numbers rushing upon them in battle 
array, requires more than ordinary moral courage. And in this 
particular case there were circumstances which heightened this dis- 
play of cool intrepidity. War had not been declared or hostilities 
commenced ; and the men on the field knew that they were not 
only exposed to British bullets, but to a British halter, if they stood 
together with arms in their hands, and refused to disperse at the 
order of the king's officers, clothed with royal authority. But still 
they were undaunted. Those already upon the field stood firm, and 
those who were a I'ttle later walked to the field and paraded in the 
very face of the British regulars, who were rushing upon the Com- 
mon with a defiant shout. 

The minute-men were ordered to disperse by Pitcairn, but they 
heeded not the command. A British volley was fired, and the com- 
mand to lay down their arms and disperse was repeated with an 
oath and a pistol shot, but they stood undaunted. And it was not 
till the fatal volley had decimated their little band, that they left the 
field at the command of Captain Parker. Their situation was more 
critical, more trying, than that of any men that day. The men 
who led the attack at the North bridge, and those who pursued the 
British that day, were truly courageous ; but they all had the stimu- 
lating fact that the British commenced the slaughter at Lexington, 
to fire their bosoms and to urge them upon the foe. Courage, like 
other passions or qualities of the mind, is increased or depressed by 
outward circumstances ; and it requires more true moral courage to 
stand fearless and unmoved, as did the minute-men of Lexington in 
the morning, than to join in pursuit, or even march to the attack, 
after hostilities have commenced and numbers are pressing to your 
support. 



21 

But Lexington furnished individual cases of bravery, which merit 
special notice. Jedediah Munroe was wounded in the morning, but 
as soon as his wound in the arm could be dressed, he mounted his 
horse and rode to an adjoining town, spreading the alarm, and rally- 
ing the citizens. He returned, joined the company, and was killed 
in the afternoon. " History, Roman history," says Everett in his 
Lexington address, " does not furnish an example of bravery that 
outshines that of Jonas Parker. A truer heart did not bleed at 
Thermopylae. He was next door neighbor to Mr. Clarke, and had 
evidently imbibed a double portion of his lofty spirit. Parker was 
often heard to say that, be the consequences what they might, and 
let others do what they pleased, he would never run from the enemy. 
He was as good as his word — better. Having loaded his musket, 
he placed his hat containing his amunition, on the ground between 
his feet, in readiness for the second charge. At the second fire from 
the enemy he was wounded and sunk upon his knees, and in this 
condition discharged his gun. While loading it again upon his 
knees, and striving in the agonies of death to redeem his pledge, he 
was transfixed by a bayonet, and thus died on the spot where he 
first stood and fell." We might mention other examples of individ- 
ual bravery, but our limits will not permit. 

The Americans lost on that fatal day forty-nine killed, thirty- 
nine wounded, and five missing. Lexington lost ten killed, and ten 
wounded, nearly one-fourth of the whole number. The Lexington 
killed were Robert Munroe, who had been standard-bearer in the 
king's service in the French war, Jonas Parker, Samuel Fladley. 
Jonathan Harrington, Jr., Isaac Muzzy, Caleb Harrington, John 
Brown, Jedediah Munroe, John Raymond, Nathaniel Wyman, — ten. 
And the wounded were: — John Robbins, Solomon Peirce. John 
Tidd, Joseph Comee, Ebenezer Munroe, Jr., Thom-!S Winship, Na- 
thaniel Farmer, Prince Estabrook, Francis Brown. Jedediah Munroe. 
— ten. The other towns suffered as follows in their killed and 
wounded: — Cojicord, none killed, five wounded ; Acton, three killed, 
one wounded ; Cambridge, including Arlington, six killetl, one 
wounded ; Needhavi, five killed, two wounded ; Sudbuiy, twt) killed, 
one wounded ; Bedford, one killed, one wounded ; Wobiirn, two killed, 
three wounded ; Medford, two killed ; Charlestown, two killed ; 
Frainiiigliani, one wounded ; Ded/idin, one killed, one wounded ; 
Stow, one wounded ; Brookline, one killed ; Billerica, two wounded ; 



22 

Chelmsford, two wounded ; Salem, one killed ; Newton, one wounded ; 
Danz'ei's, seven killed, two wounded ; Beverly, one killed, three 
wounded ; Lynn, four killed, two wounded. 

It will be seen that Lexington suffered most severely, though 
some of the towns on the line had three times her population. Next 
to Lexington, Danvers was the greatest sufferer, though she was 
one of the most remote towns. The British loss was seventy-three 
killed, one hundred and seventy-four wounded, and twenty-six miss- 
ing — mostly taken prisoners. 

We stated in the body of the account, that the British officers 
sent out by Gage on the i8th, probably had their orders to seize 
Hancock and Adams. If such was the design, the alarm that was 
given, and the gathering of the minute-men, were amply sufficient 
to induce them to abandon that design. Hancock and Adams had 
been at Mr. Clarke's several days, and they remained in his house 
on the morning of the 19th of April, till some three or four o'clock, 
when they repaired to the woods on the hill near Mr. Clarke's house, 
where they could overlook the Common, and they were in a manner 
witnesses of what occurred on the green till the British left for Con- 
cord, when they were conducted to safe quarters in Burlington. It 
was on the hill here spoken of, that the prophetic spirit of Adams, 
when he heard the report of the enemy's volley on the Common, 
broke forth with the joyful exclamation, " What a glorious morning 
for America is this." 

Lexington's patriotic zeal did not subside with the 19th of April. 
During the siege of Boston she furnished men, fuel and other sup- 
plies for the army ; and in the different campaigns to New York, 
to Ticonderoga, to White Plains, to the Jerseys, to Bennington, to 
Providence, and other places, she sent, on the shortest notices, her 
full quota of men ; and in the Continental army she had over one 
hundred men, who enlisted for three years or during the war. This, 
for a small town of about seven hundred inhabitants, must be 
regarded as a liberal supply. And more recently, when the integrity 
of the Union was assailed by those who had enjoyed its protection 
and blessings, Lexington furnished, including re-enlistments, two 
hundred and forty-four men, who readily volunteered to sustain the 
institutions which our fathers established. Lexington sustained her 
soldiers liberally, expending $27,000 in the late war. Nearly $2,000 
of this was furnished by the ladies, who provided clothing and hospi- 



23 

tal supplies for the men in the field. Hut Lexington does not glory 
in her military aehievements alone. She has joyfully cultivated the 
arts of peace, and has made a respectable advance in civilization. 
Her population, for reasons already stated, has not advanced rapidly ; 
but her growth has been gradual and healthy. In 1676 the popula- 
tion of the place could not exceed one hundred ; in 1776 it probably 
amounted to seven hundred; and in 1876 to two thousand five 
hundred and ten. But by the industry of the inhabitants, the wealth 
of the town has increased in a far greater ratio. We cannot present 
the taxable value of the property a century ago ; but for the last 
twenty years the town valuation has risen from $1,815,799 ^^ 
$2,979,711, a gain in twenty years of sixty-four per cent. The 
number of polls in 1776 was two hundred and three, in 1876, seven 
hundred and thirty-six. To show the present condition of the town 
we will state that the number of dwelling houses is' 467, the number 
of horses 473, and the number of cows 1,119. 

It has justly been observed that the love of country and the love 
of learning, are kindred affections and generally go together. As 
soon as Lexington was incorporated as a town, she erected a school 
house in the centre of the town, and supported what was generally 
denominated " a moving school," which was kept in rotation in 
different sections of the township. During the Revolution no great 
improvement was made in the cause of education; but in 1795 three 
additional school houses were erected, and $333 appropriated for 
the support of schools. This sum was increased from time to time 
— in 1 8 19 to $900, in 1830 to $1,000, in 1837 to $1,400, in 1850 to 
$2,400, in i860 to $3,400, in 1870 to $6,000, in 1875 to Si 0,100, 
amounting to $21.72 to each scholar in town between the ages of 
five and fifteen, and making Lexington No. 10 in the list of three 
hundred and thirty-eight towns, and No. 6 in the county of fifty- 
four towns, — a position highly creditable. She has seven good 
school houses, and supports a High School, with a salary Tor the 
teacher of $2,000, being a larger sum than is paid for a High School 
teacher by any town in the State of the same population, valua- 
tion, and number of scholars. 

While Lexington has not all the luxuries of the cities and the 
more wealthy towns, yet she is not behind towns of her population, 
similarly situated. She has her street lights ; and the lamjjs in her 
main village and in the public buildings are supplied with gas by a 



24 

company in the place, which also supplies many of the private 
families. 

She is also favored with a Savings Bank, where her laborers and 
others, can deposit twice a month, their earnings or any surplus 
they may have on hand, and thus secure something in prosperity 
which may serve them in adversity, or enable them to leave some- 
thmg for their families. This institution has been in operation only 
about five years, and still it has been attended with entire success, 
and has acquired a permanent character satisfactory to the people 

Like most other towns in the State, Lexington has a variety of 
religious societies of different denominations — One Unitarian one 
Calvinistic, one Baptist, one Union, composed of Unitarians' and 
Universalists, and one Roman Catholic. They all have good houses 
of worship,— the two first named have houses tastefully finished,— 
and all are supplied with ministers and have regular preaching. 
These societies are well sustained. 

Not only the churches and school-houses, but the Town Hall is 
highly creditable to the town. It is a brick building. 95 feet by 58 
and 38 feet in height above the basement, with a double Louvre roof 
affording an attic hall 14 feet high. This edifice furnishes a large 
audience hall, apartments for the appropriate town officers, a memo- 
rial hall, and library hall. The memorial hall is an octagon with 
suitable corridors, containing four niches, filled with four marble life- 
size statues,— two of soldiers,— one a minute-man of 1775, and the 
other a Union soldier of 186 1. These are consecrated to 'the fm/i- 
tary, to show our just appreciation of the gallant men by whom our 
freedom was achieved and has been sustained. The other two 
niches are filled with the statues of Samuel Adams and John 
Hancock, the patriot sages who guided public sentiment and ani- 
mated the zeal of the people, and so prepared the Colonists for self 
government. The hall also contains tablets with the names of the 
martyrs of both wars, and bears upon its entrance this appropriate 
inscription : 

LEXINGTON 

CONSECRATES THIS HALL AND ITS EMBLEMS 

TO THE MEMORY OF THE 

FOUNDERS AND THE SUSTAINERS OF OUR FREE INSTITUTIONS. 

The library hall is a large, commodious room, appropriately fitted 
up for the purpose. The library was established in 1868, and now 



25 

contains four thousand six hundred volumes, and is constantly 
increasing. As its resources furnish about $550 annually, and pub- 
lic institutions and private individuals arc liberal in their gifts, we 
trust that our library, which is free to all. will soon be worthy of the 
historic town of Lexington. The library hall also contains many 
appropriate relics of the Revolution, and of the men who took part 
in the events of that day, such as muskets, swords, powder horns, 
and other things too numerous to mention. 

The people of Lexington have always felt that they were placed 
by Providence in a peculiar position. To be the birth-place of 
American liberty, — the spot where the opening scene of the Revo- 
lution was laid, where the first blood was shed, the first martyrs fell, 
and the first organized resistance made to the king's troops, — has 
given to Lexington a historic character, which imposes upon its citi- 
zens a sacred regard to the free institutions of the land. And, as 
on the morning of the 19th of April, 1775, she met the oppressor 
single handed, and was doomed to " tread the wine-press alone," so 
she has been able on her commemorative days, to carry forward her 
work without the advice or financial aid of her sister towns. In our 
Centennial celebration in 1875, we felt constrained to do what we 
could to honor the great event which occurred within our borders, a 
century ago. While we had no disposition to arrogate to ourselves 
any exclusive patriotism, or to impute to others a want of devotion 
to their country ; while we were not ambitious to interpolate any 
new chapter into our country's annals, to throw other towns into 
the shade and thus gain temporarily a false reputation ; we could not 
ignore the event /)f Providence which had, long since, passed into 
history, making Lexington the scene of the first encounter, and her 
sons the first to confront an oppressor in arms, and to seal their 
devotion to freedom with their life blood. 

Lexington felt called upon, under these circumstances, to open 
wide her doors and to invite the friends of freedom from every part 
of the country to meet on her consecrated soil, that we might join 
our hearts and our voices in gratitude to the patriots of days gone 
by, whose wisdom devised, and whose gallantry achieved our glorious 
independence ; and to renew our vows to sustain that independence, 
and to make our Republic an example to the world. Our invitations 
were sent to the President and suite, to the Ciovcrnors of all the 
States, officers of the army and navy, members of Congress, judges 
4 



26 

of the Courts, members of our State government, and gentlemen of 
distinction of every profession in all sections of the country. Nor 
were our invitations confined to this country. They were sent 
across the Atlantic, and brought cordial responses from our minis- 
ters abroad, and from two distinguished members of the British 
Parliament. 

The responses to our invitations were of the most cordial charac- 
ter. We were sensible that we were destined to lead off in a 
series of Centennial celebrations which, though confined to this 
country, would exert an influence abroad ; and we resolved that the 
example we should set should be in harmony with the general 
designs of these commemorative rejoicings. Nay, without waiting 
for others, or inquiring into their design or their policy, we, as our 
fathers did of old, acted on our own judgment; and knowing that 
we had a country to harmonize, we extended our invitations to those 
who had been estranged from us, to show them that we, like the 
father in the parable, would " meet a great way off," those who had 
come to themselves and were desirous of returning to the paternal 
mansion. We intended that all our proceedmgs should be strictly 
national, and calculated to heal any disaffection, to remove all dis- 
trust, and restore harmony and confidence between different sections 
of the Union. 

Our speakers were selected with reference to this design, and the 
tone and temper of their speeches were of a patriotic and concilia- 
tory character ; and while we have witnessed with pleasure the tone 
of later celebrations and the voice of the pres^, we can congratulate 
ourselves that this fraternal, forgiving spirit was first uttered in 
Lexington ; that we were permitted to be the harbingers of that 
returning harmony so important to the prosperity of the country. 
And we flatter ourselves that the report which went forth from 
Lexington Common in 1875, hke the report from the same place in 
1775, may have contributed to the production of confidence between 
the North and the South. 

The attendance at our celebration greatly exceeded our expecta- 
tion. The President and his Cabinet, and distinguished guests 
from every section of the country honored us by their presence, and 
the legion — for they were many — flocked to our town, and so 
blocked our roads that they were for a great part of the day impassa- 
ble. It was estimated by the best judges that there were in the town 



27 

that clay, at least a hundred thousand people. Such numbers dis- 
appointed many of our guests, and greatly mortified us, because we 
could not accommodate them as we desired. But on further reflec- 
tion we, and we believe most of our guests who were incommoded, 
rejoice rather than otherwise, that the crowd was so great. This 
gathering by thousands showed that the spirit of 1775 was not 
extinct. And we perceived that the mere story of the 19th of 
April, '75, had produced such a ground-swell of patriotism, such 
a feeling of gratitude to our Revolutionary fathers, and such a 
sense of the worth of our institutions, as would ensure the per- 
petuity of the Republic. Thus our disappointment was turned into 
rejoicing. 

Citizens of Lexington, the approaching Fourth of July is the 
anniversary of the declaration of the nation's independence — the 
announcement in Philadelphia on the Fourth of July, 1776, of a 
fact which practically occurred in Lexington on the 19th of April, 
1775. But the event itself is important, and the Centennial anniver- 
sary is a suitable time to recount our past blessings, to review our 
history, and form plans for such improvement as may redound to 
the honor of the country. But above all things, we must remem- 
ber that righteousness exalteth a nation, and that our country's 
prosperity depends upon justice, temperance, and the great princi- 
ples of moral rectitude and integrity — principles on which our insti- 
tutions were founded. If we have departed from them, let us return 
to them as to the ark of our safety, and recognize our dependence 
upon Him who rules the nations of the earth. This reform is 
greatly needed to save our national character, and no time and place 
are more suitable to commence this reform than this Centennial, 
and the place where our freedom had its birth. The time and the 
place being propitious, we should consecrate ourselves to the great 
cause of national morality, and trust to the sacred guidance of Him 
on whom our fathers placed their reliance. Yes : 

" Here upon this sacred sod. 

The children of the free. 
Who follow where our fathers trod. 
Must learn to trust our fathers' God, 

The God of Liberty." 

At the close of the eighteenth century the fame of Lexington 
was so fully appreciated by the State, that the Legislature made an 



28 

appropriation, " For the purpose of erecting in said town a Monu- 
ment of Stone, on which shall be engraved the names of the eight 
men, inhabitants of Lexington, who were slain on the morning of 
the 19th of April, 1775, by a party of British troops ; together with 
such other inscription as, in the judgment of the Selectmen and the 
approbation of the Governor and Council, shall be calculated to 
preserve to posterity a record of the first effort made by the people of 
America for the establishment of their freedom and independence^ 

The inscription upon the Monument was furnished by the patri- 
otic Mr. Clarke, and met the approbation of the Governor and 
Council. It is so replete with devotion to the cause of America, 
and the love of freedom and the rights of mankind, and so true to 
history and the spirit of the day, that we will give it entire : 

Sacred to Liberty and the Rights of Mankind ! ! ! 

The Freedom and Independence of America, 
Sealed and defended with the Blood of her Sons. 

This Monument is erected 

By the inhabitants of Lexington, 

Under the patronage and at the expense of 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 

To the memory of their fellow Citizens, 

Ensign Robert Munroe, and Messrs. Jotias Parker, 

Satnuel Hadley, Jofiatkan Harrington, Jun., 

Isaac Muzzy, Caleb Harrington, and John Brown, 

Of Lexington, and Asahel Porter of Woburn, 

Who fell on the Field the First Victims to the 

Sword of British Tyranny and oppression, 

On the Morning of the ever memorable 

Nineteenth of April An. Dom. 1775. 

The Die was cast ! ! ! 

The Blood of these Martyrs 

In the cause of God and their country 

Was the Cement of the Union of these States, then 

Colonies, and gave the Spring to the Spirit, Firmness 

And Resolution of their Fellow Citizens. 

They rose as one Man to revenge their Brethren's 

Blood, and at the point of the sword to assert and 

Defend their native Rights. 

They nobly dared to be free ! ! 

The contest was long, bloody and affecting. 

Righteous Heaven approved the solemn appeal. 

Victory crowned their arms ; and 

The Peace, Liberty and Independence of the United 

States of America was their Glorious Reward. 



ABSTRACT 



OF THE 



HISTORY- OF LEXINGTON, MASS. 



FROM ITS 



FIRST si:ttlhmi:xt 



CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE DECLARATION OF 
OUR NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE, 

JULY 4. 1876. 



o>»;cx^ 



BY CHARLHS Hl'DSOX. 




H () S T O N : 

I'Ki: SS (»!• r. R. MAR\ IN & SON, 4 9 K K 1 1 K K A L S T R K K I' 

, S - 6 



C^^« CCC--CC'C 

CI cdf cccr ^ 

m ca €c 
(ccccr- cfo 



(::c<r.C(r^<i«SLC 












if? 



<pKi: mcc ucf . 



cc rG c • mcc" a ■ 






C€CC 

: cc 

cor: 

Ccc 

CC 
c (OC 



Cc 
Co: 

<oc 



"(ft., cc c CO?: 






XM. ^^:<C: 



cicil cccrc^ m^<^m^ 

C€ c m 



C C CCC 
CC CCC 

XC 



X'C<t 

CCS 



CC 



CCCvC 

cC crc 



( ccor 



C?''C 

:<c.C( 

CSC 



^ 



c c^ 



s 



: etc? c^ 
: cor cc 



^ ^ ^ CC a 
c e 



^C C C CCcCC «^ C CdC 



^^c 



c <L ^ICC 









<<: rr 






LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

ii 11 II 



ill' iillililn i I I I: III Ii \l ■•' I' 

014 077 499 6 • 



